Rakeem Cato threw for four touchdowns and 341 yards to lead the Marshall Thundering Herd to a 38-28 win over the Memphis Tigers in a Mid-American Conference bout at Joan C. Edwards Stadium.
Cato completed 34-of-44 pass attempts including completions to 11 different Marshall (4-5, 3-2 MAC) receivers. Davonte Allen was chief among those pass-catchers with a team-high 87 yards and a touchdown on four receptions. Kevin Grooms led the Heard on the ground with 46 yards rushing.
Jacob Karam completed 21-of-31 pass attempts for 170 yards and a touchdown for Memphis (1-8, 1-4) which has lost fourth straight. Brandon Hayes had 60 yards rushing on 22 carries. As a team Memphis ran the ball 52 times for 141 yards.
Cato threw a one-yard touchdown pass to Gator Hoskins midway through the first quarter to begin the scoring.
Justin Haig connected on a 41-yard field goal later in the period to push Marshall's lead to 10-0.
Memphis would cut into that lead with a five-yard touchdown run from Jai Steib.
Remi Watson scored on a four-yard touchdown run on Marshall's next possession to finish off a 10-play, 75-yard drive.
In the second half Cato threw a pair of touchdown passes, a 25-yard strike to Demetrius Evans and a nine-yard throw to Devon Johnson, as the Thundering Herd took a commanding lead, 31-7, midway through the third quarter.
Memphis wouldn't be put away so easily though. First Karam threw a one-yard touchdown pass to Jesse Milleson near the end of the third quarter.
Steib then scored on a two-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter. Steib had a chance to score again less than four minutes later but fumbled the ball at the one-yard line. Luckily for the Tigers Jordan Devey fell on the ball in the end zone cutting the Tigers' deficit to just three points, 31-28.
Cato finally put an end to the Tigers' scoring streak with a 28-yard touchdown pass to Davonte Allen which was the final score of the game.
Marshall was dominated in terms of ball control n in the game with a more than 15 minute disparity between the squads in time of possession.
Game Notes
